‘Why NTDC sponsors festivals’

Ongoing efforts by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) to make tourism a vital ingredient of the nation’s rebirth are non-negotiable, the establishment’s Zonal Coordinator (Southwest), Alhaji Nasiru Kaka, has said.

Kaka, who spoke with The Nation yesterday, said the time had come for the nation to de-emphasise dependence on oil and exploit other resources to boost the economy.

“In those good old days, we depended on agriculture as the fulcrum of our economic life as a nation; suddenly, we lost it to over-reliance on oil. Now, as things go, it is desirable to seek other avenues to sustain our tottering economy and the way out is to focus on our tourism potentials,” he said.

The intention, he explained, accounted for why the corporation began last year, the registration and renewal of hotels across the country. “The registration and renewal are still in force and we are doubly convinced that at the end of the exercise, tourism would have enjoyed robust boost,” he said.

The NTDC coordinator further explained that the drive to lift the nation’s tourism sector and make it a major income-earner for the nation occasioned the corporation’s continued support for prominent cultural festivals across the country.

Others, he pointed out, include the annual Shodeke Festival and popular Ojude-Oba in Ijebu-Ode, both in Ogun State; Kayo Kayo Festival in Epe; Samodun Festival, Ibadan, Oyo State, and Osun Osogbo et cetera.

He urged all stakeholders in the tourism industry to join hands with NTDC’s current efforts to reposition by playing their part creditably well, adding: “We have started the drive and we are irrevocably committed to seeing it to a fruitful conclusion in the interest of our nation and its people.”